Protective device for a door

ABSTRACT

A protective device for a door to prevent removal of the door lock, and to prevent access to the door and doorframe interface. A plate having first and second raised parts is secured to the door adjacent the door lock. The first raised part covers the lock. An opening in this raised part allows a key to pass therethrough but does not permit removal of the lock therethrough. The opening is elongated, whereby door locks variously spaced on the door may be protected by the plate. The second raised part partially covers a member which prevents access to the interface, which member can be moved along the interface to a preferred position prior to being secured to the plate and the door.

United States Patent Gervis et al. 1 Feb. 29, 1972 [54] PROTECTIVE DEVICE FOR A DOOR 2,563,950 8/1951 Martin ..70/452 3 343 386 9/1967 Hall ..70/419 X [72] Inventors: Melvyn A. Gervls, l-laworth; Eugene Taras wozny Harrington Park, hem of N 1.; 3,377,094 4/1968 Thompson ....292/346 Nicholas Giardlna, Mount Vernon, NY. Primary Examiner Kenneth D owney [73] Assignee: Magic Eye Associates, Inc., New York, Attorney-James and Franklin N.Y. {57] ABSTRACT [22] Filed: May 11, 1970 A protective device for a door to prevent removal of the door [21 1 Appl' 36,176 lock, and to prevent access to the door and doorframe interface. A plate having first and second raised parts is secured to 52 us. (31.... 49/504, 70/452, 292/346 adjacent The raised Part 1511 Int. Cl ..E06b 1/04 Waning raised a key Pass [58] Field of Search ..49/502, 504-, 292/346; 70/419, herethmugh but Pmit 70/452 therethrough. The opening is elongated, whereby door locks variously spaced on the door may be protected by the plate. [56] References Cited The second raised part partially covers a member which prevents access to the interface, which member can be moved UNITE STA PATENTS along the interface to a preferred position prior to being secured to the plate and the door. 1,579,139 3/1926 Phillips ...70/452 2,144,075 1/1939 Mora ..292/346 3 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures PROTECTIVE DEVICE FOR A DOOR.

The present invention relates to a protective device for a door which guards the door lock against tampering or even removal, and which prevents access to the door and doorframe interface. It has been found desirable to equip doors with protective devices to guard the door lock and door-doorframe interface. While some locks are either difficult or impossible to open without use of the proper key, the lock cylinder may be tampered with or even removed bya skillful thief or other intruder. For locks in which the cylinder is not removable, intruders have at times been successful at inserting a crowbar or like device in the door-doorframe interface, and have been able to pry open the latch. Additionally, access to the door-doorframe interface permits the intruder to disconnect a chain lock normally placed on the inside of the door.

It has been known in the prior art to guard the door lock cylinder by use of a rigid plate which is fastened to the door adjacent the door lock. This plate can be provided with a raised surface to accommodate the protruding door lock cylinder, and has an opening therein to permit passage of a key therethrough and into the lock. This opening, however, is small enough in at least one dimension so as to prevent removal of the cylinder therethrough.

To prevent access to the interface, a guard may be fastened to the door adjacent the interface, which guard covers the interface when the door is closed. Access to the interface is only possible if the guard is pried away from the door exposing the interface. In an alternative arrangement the guard is mounted in a recess in the door, with the member extending over the interface and into a similar recess in the doorframe.

It is highly desirable to combine both the door lock guard and the interface guard into a single unit so as to completely secure the door against thieves or other intruders. It is further advantageous to provide an interface guard which is movable along the interface to a preferred door latch guarding position prior to being secured to both the door and door lock guard.

It is a prime object of the present invention to provide a protective device which comprises a combination door lock guard which protects the lock, and interface guard which prevents tampering with the door latch.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a protective device which comprises a combined door lock guard and interface guard, the interface guard being movable to a preferred position prior to securing it to the door to obtain maximum security therefrom.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a protective. device which is sufficiently structurally rigid to frustrate all attempts at deformation or removal thereof.

The protective device consists of a door lock guard and an interface guard. The door lock guard comprises a plate having a raised part which covers and guards thedoor lock cylinder. An elongated opening in that raised part permits passage of a key. therethrough and into the lock, but prevents removal of the lock therethrough, as the height of the opening is smaller than the door lock cylinder diameter. The plate is bolted, to the door adjacent the doorlock and the elongated opening permits the plate to accommodate and protect doorlocks which register with that opening. An interface guard is bolted to the door, and comprises a base which extends over the interface to prevent access thereto, and which has a substantially perpendicular and integral flange which provides the interface guard with added stiffness so as to prevent its being pried away from the door to expose the interface. The plate has a second raised part, which raised part and baseare jux-, taposed. Bolts are placed through registering holes in the second raised part, the base, and the door, thereby securing the door lock guard and the interface guard to each other, as well as the door.

To the accomplishment of the above, and to such other objects as may hereinafter appear, the present invention relates to a protective devicefor a door as defined in the appended claims, and as described in the specification, taken togetherwith the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating the door lock guard and interface guard as they appear prior to bolting them to the door;

FIG. 2. is a front elevational view of the door lock guard and interface guard secured to the door and each other;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken along the line 3-3 of FIG. 2; and

FIG. 4 is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken along the line 4-4 of FIG. 2.

Referring to FIG. 1, the present invention is designated generally by the numeral 10. Door lock guard means is in the form of a plate 12 which is generally rectangular and is fabricated from ,a material, preferably metal, which is stiff and resists deformation. In the central portion of the plate 12 is a raisedpart 14. The raised part 14 must be a sufficiently high to accommodate the protruding door lock 18 (FIG. 4) when the plate 12 is secured to the door 17. A second raised part 19 extends along the entire height of the plate 12. The two raised parts ,14, 19 blend, as the first raised part tapers into the second raised partalong the section 22. In securing the plate 14 to the door 17 the plate is positioned on that door adjacent the door lock 18 while the end 24 of the plate 12 registers with the interface 25. To effect the securing of the plate 12 to the door 17, that plate is provided with the square holes 26 which register with holes 30 which are drilled in the door 17 (FIG. 2). Bolts 28 are inserted in these registering holes 26, 30, and nuts 34 are placed on the bolts 28 at the inside of the door 17. The heads of the bolts 28 are specifically designed as spherical segments so as to prevent removalthereof by the use of a screwdriver or wrench. Therefore, the nuts must be tightened about the bolt on the inside of the door thus providing maximum security.

The raised part 14 is provided with an opening 36 which is horizontally elongated. That opening will accommodate all locks which register therewith, or those locks variously horizontally spaced from the interface 25, and which expose the keyhole to that opening. The height of that opening, as shown-in FIG. 2, is substantially smaller than the diameter of the lock 18, so as to prevent removal of that lock therethrough.

Interface guard means is in the form of an elongated member 40 which comprises a base 42 and an integral flange 44 substantially perpendicular to the base 42. The member 40 is formed from a stiff material resistant to deformation. The elongated member 40 is placedover the interface 25 with the base interposed between the raised part 19 of lock guard.

means 12 and the door. 17. The elongated member 40 is provided with sufficient stiffness by the integral flange 44 so as to prevent its being pried away from the door 17, thereby to prevent exposing the interface 25. Prior to securing the base 42 to the door 17, and the part 19, the elongated member 40 is movable to a preferred position along the interface 25. For example, in FIG. 2, the door 17 is provided with two locks 18 and 48, the.lock 48 being operable by the door knob 50, and both locks having latches (not shown) which extend past the interface25 into openings in the door frame (not shown). The elongated member 40 can be moved vertically along the interface 25 such that it coversboth latches and preventstheir being pried open, andtherefore is useful for doors having severallocks. That member'40 also guards against tampering with chain locksnormally placed on the inside of the door, where such locks register .with any point along the length of that member.

The elongated memberv 40 is secured to the plate 12 and the door 17 by means of thebolts 28 received inthe holes 27 and registeringholes 26a drilled, in the base 42 and the door 17. That member is additionally secured to the door 17 by inserting bolts 28 intothe holes 27b and registering holes 26b drilled taining the security of a locked door. The plate 12 guards the lock 18 from tampering or even removal, as height of the opening is less than the locks diameter. The interface guard 40, by covering the interface 25 with a stiff member, prevents access to the interface 25, thereby maintaining the security of the door latch. By protecting both the door lock and the doordoorframe interface, a locked door remains locked.

While but a single embodiment of the present invention is therein disclosed, it will be appreciated that many variations may be made in the details thereof, without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, as defined in the appended claims.

We claim:

1. A protective device for a door having a door lock comprising first means to guard the door lock, said first means comprising a plate adapted to be secured to the door independently of the door lock and adjacent thereto, and having a first part raised with respect to said plate proper and when thus secured adapted to be spaced from and to cover and guard said door lock, there being an opening in said raised part, said opening being substantially larger than the keyhole and being adapted to register therewith to permit direct passage of a key therethrough, and into the door lock, and manipulation of the key therein and which opening is of a size and shape insufficient to allow removal of the door lock therethrough, and second means to prevent access to the door-doorframe interface, said second means being longer than said first means, said second means being movable along the interface to a preferred door latch guarding position prior to being secured to said first means, and means securing said first and second means to one another.

2. The protective device of claim 1, in which said opening is elongated, whereby it is effective to guard door locks which register therewith in a variety of positions on said door.

3. The protective device of claim 1, said first means also comprising a second part raised with respect to said plate proper, said second means comprising an elongated member having a base part adapted to be secured to the door and ex-, 

1. A protective device for a door having a door lock comprising first means to guard the door lock, said first means comprising a plate adapted to be secured to the door independently of the door lock and adjacent thereto, and having a first part raised with respect to said plate proper and when thus secured adapted to be spaced from and to cover and guard said door lock, there being an opening in said raised part, said opening being substantially larger than the keyhole and being adapted to register therewith to permit direct passage of a key therethrough, and into the door lock, and manipulation of the key therein and which opening is of a size and shape insufficient to allow removal of the door lock therethrough, and second means to prevent access to the doordoorframe interface, said second means being longer than said first means, said second means being movable along the interface to a preferred door latch guarding position prior to being secured to said first means, and means securing said first and second means to one another.
 2. The protective device of claim 1, in which said opening is elongated, whereby it is effective to guard door locks which register therewith in a variety of positions on said door.
 3. The protective device of claim 1, said first means also comprising a second part raised with respect to said plate proper, said second means comprising an elongated member having a base part adapted to be secured to the door and extending over said interface, a flange extending from said base part, said base part being positioned between said door and said second raised part, said securing means being active on said second raised part and said base part to secure said plate and said member to said door, whereby said member prevents access to the interface, said member being movable along the interface to a preferred position prior to being secured to said plate and said door. 